I know the popular opinion is to have this role filled by the Julianne Moore and Michelle Pfeiffer types. I must politely disagree agree with any actresses in this archetype. They are all much too old imho.

I'd like to toss out a few suggestions of young ladies that I think would be perfect for the role, and one that could catch Rilian's eye. My perfect LotGK will be between 20-30, with red hair, and green eyes.

Rose Leslie is probably my number one choice based on actresses I've just stumbled across while browsing IMDb. I'm sure fans of Game of Thrones or Downton Abbey will recognize her as she's in both. But she's the right age and has the right look imho.

Emily Browning is probably most famous on this site for her role in the Series of Unfortunate Events movie. Again, I think she has a really good appearance for the LotGK and would do a good job.

And finally Emilia Clark of Game of Thrones fame. Again, I haven't seen her, but she just looks the part to me. (Isn't she the one who controls dragons or something like that? Appropriate.)

I agree with casting the Lady of the Green Kirtle between the ages of 20-30 since Rilian is supposed to be infatuated by her. I always imagined her with blonde hair, but unless I'm mistaken her hair colour is never mentioned in the book.

Whomever they to choose, she needs to look different from the White Witch and having her with red hair would be a great idea! I'm hoping for an A-list actor to play LOTGK, someone like Nicole Kidman. Though she may be too old depending on how old they want to portray her.

Tilda Swinton had blonde hair on show for all her White Witch scenes. Whereas the LOTGK in BBC Silver Chair always had her hair covered in some sort of headdress. I can see the importance of LOTGK being entirely different from the White Witch, but I don't see why she needs to have red hair, in particular. What is wrong with her having brown or even black hair, though I agree with green or hazel (green/brown) eyes.

Would Emma Watson make a good LOTGK, in your opinion? Or Natalie Tena?

fantasia_kitty wrote:And finally Emilia Clark of Game of Thrones fame. Again, I haven't seen her, but she just looks the part to me. (Isn't she the one who controls dragons or something like that? Appropriate.)

Ooh, I like this idea. Definitely has the acting capability and the right type of look. Plus as a relatively new actress, possibly easier to obtain?

waggawerewolf27 wrote:I can see the importance of LOTGK being entirely different from the White Witch, but I don't see why she needs to have red hair, in particular. What is wrong with her having brown or even black hair.

Would Emma Watson make a good LOTGK, in your opinion?

Of course there's nothing wrong with that, I just have a slight preference. Not sure about Emma Watson though. She's a great actor no doubt but she's already had her defining role in another children's fantasy series.

I think she needs to be very different from the White Witch. And not because she needs to contrast with Jadis, but because they are described as quite different. While beautiful, Jadis radiates power. She is tall and intimidating. Coldly beautiful. Commanding and confident. Think of how she dominates Uncle Andrew. Tilda Swinton captured this well. However, The Lady of the Green Kirtle looks younger. Her features should be demure and innocent. The tale of her abduction of Rilian is almost Arthurian in tone. She seems to fit the archetype of the 'fair maiden', yet her beauty, like the siren, is a distraction and a lure. Unlike Jadis who doesn't actively use her beauty (it doesn't seem), the Lady's beauty is one her most powerful weapons. It's not just that she takes advantage of her attractiveness, she uses it to manipulate how everyone views her. Eustace and Jill can't possibly believe ill of her because she is so sweet and fair. This is important because when Puddleglum stomps on her fire and she drops the facade, it makes it even more shocking.

As far actresses go, I don't know. Everyone I think of it only because of their physical appearance. I think this role would be more difficult to act than it would appear and I hesitate to suggest anyone because to me, acting ability is so much more important than looking just right. Amy Adams could certainly pull the right look (with blonde hair maybe), and lately she's been flexing her acting skills more and more, but she is an awfully big name, and I'd be surprised if she wanted to do something like this right now in her career. I think, as Impending Doom said just above, Emma Watson could be great, but I fear people wouldn't view it so much as Watson playing the role, but Hermione playing the role. I also think she is trying to distance herself from that type-cast anyway.

"When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.” -C.S. Lewis

I agree that Rose Leslie looks the part. I haven't seen her in anything though. Anne Hathoway could do it! They could bleach her hair or something to make it look lighter (blond, light brown, or red, They could give her contacts to cover her brown eyes). She's proven herself a good actress. It may be a good choice . . . or maybe not. I don't know but it's an idea.

Hmm, I think my favorite of all the suggestions here would be Amy Adams—I'm not terribly familiar with her work, but she does have that innocent, sweet look about her. Rose Leslie could work as well, and possibly Katie McGrath, too.

Though I would personally be very satisfied with an unknown actress, so long as she portrays the role brilliantly, I wouldn't bemoan the chance at casting a big name, either—the Lady of the Green Kirtle has very little "screen time" in The Silver Chair, and I imagine that she'll still be absent for much of the film even if they expand her role. Committing to the role probably wouldn't be a huge drain on an actress's time and she could potentially squeeze it in between other projects.

While I do think that the LotGK needs to be a young woman, I don't want her to seem too young, either—she still needs to sound like a person of intellectual authority when trying to talk Rilian, Puddleglum, Jill and Eustace out of believing in Narnia. It won't do for her to sound very girlish and young in a scene like that; she needs to come across as someone who is wise and knows it. I think thirty is probably about the right age for whoever portrays her, or at least someone who gives the impression of being an "old soul", so to speak.

Something I've also wondered about is her accent... the Green Lady is described as trilling her R's in the book, which is definitely a unique trait among characters encountered in Narnia.

There are many accents that trill the R in various ways, but personally, I like the idea of the Lady of the Green Kirtle having a soft Scottish accent. They have such a relaxing and hypnotic quality, and it just seems like a perfect fit for the scene where she speaks, "cooing softly like the voice of a wood-pigeon from the high elms in an old garden at three o'clock in the middle of a sleepy, summer afternoon"—I love that line so much!

Anyway, some Scottish dialects will sometimes roll the R once, though that would be different from the multiple rolled R's that Lewis wrote into her dialogue. I just hope that whatever the filmmakers decide, the accent doesn't come across as cheesy or annoying.

I still imagine Natalie Dormer as the LOGK. She's hands down stunning, diverse and can look so sweet one minute and the next very stern. Also her eyes and smirk reminds me of an elegant snake/serpent. I think she'd be perfect in the role.

Long Live King Caspian & Queen Liliandil Forever!Jill+Tirian! Let there be Jilrian!

But yeah, it will be tough to find someone to play such an iconic character. Well...she is iconic to us, at least, but to most people she could be depicted in almost any fashion and not raise any hackles. I kind of like the low-key actor choices for the Narnia films, so long as they can do a good job. Which, by the way, I think is entirely possible; you don't have to be a famous face to have good acting skills. I think the four Pevensies really embraced their roles in a way they might not have, had they been child actors who were already quite exposed to acting.

I'm not super informed about actors in general, but at the same time I don't think I'd like to see someone very recognisable as a Narnian character. That, I think, would take me too much out of the moment and make me think that it's X playing Lady of the Green Kirtle, not actually seeing someone who could be Lady of the Green Kirtle. If that makes any sense. I heard some people complain about that sort of thing with Liam Neeson, but like I said, I'm not really up to date on films and actors, so even though I knew about him and had seen films with him, his voice wasn't enough to remove me from the moment.

So yeah...I'm all for giving up-and-coming actors/actresses a chance, I don't really like the whole thing where the same people are cast over and over and over because they're good-looking and already in the business.

The Rose-Tree Dryad wrote:There are many accents that trill the R in various ways, but personally, I like the idea of the Lady of the Green Kirtle having a soft Scottish accent.

Another good idea from you. I never thought of that, but she is from the north of Narnia, after all... :O

The more I think about it, the more I think the Lady of the Green Kirtle is going to be difficult to cast, because not only does she need to have a certain look, but she also has to have the right kind of voice.

I remember seeing an interview years ago about the casting of Luna Lovegood in the HP films, and when Evanna Lynch went to audition, she got a callback almost as soon as she opened her mouth because her voice perfectly encompassed the dreamy quality that J.K.R. described. The Lady of the Green Kirtle having the right look is important, but in some ways, I think her voice is even more important.

Her biggest scene is the one in which she is trying to talk Rilian, Jill, Eustace and Puddleglum out of believing in Narnia, and I think it's imperative that her voice has a very lyrical, hypnotic quality to it. I would love for the words and music to be so artfully, gently persuasive, putting the listener in such a dream-like state, that the audience actually empathizes with Rilian and the questers when they begin to believe that Narnia isn't real at all.

If the actress is able to do that, then I'll consider it a job well-done.